Behide the Scenes
by Avalin Rose Ellyot
Summary: A companion story to 'Identity Crisis' that ranges from angst to fluff. One-shots. R&R
1. Chapter 1

**Ok dolls, here it is, the first one shot! Though, it might not be a one shot if you guys like it. I could make it like 3 chapters long. **

**I'm writing this to fend off angry mobs of people asking for an update. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: As always, I don't own Doctor Who, obviously.**

I was reading in the library when I heard it. A pop and a crash, then a little yelp. I got up, rubbing my forehead. That man was someday going to get himself killed.

_'Doctor? Doctor, what did you do?'_ I asked. No reply. I groaned and rolled my eyes. The TARDIS took me right to the console room, now filled with smoke. I was fanning myself, trying to clear the air, when something poked my leg. I ignored it at first, thinking it was a loose wire, until it poked me again, this time accompanied by a little cough. I looked down and there, tangled in his pinstriped jacket, was the Doctor.

"Doctor! What on Gallifrey…? Oh you better still be able to talk little man, because I need an explanation!" I yelled. The little boy's bottom lip quivered, and a single tear rolled down his cheek. "I sowwee Wava! I sti' Docta! I pwessded a wong buddin and now I wittle! I ca' tawk wight, and my bwain ca' howd my finks, so I gon' be a wittle babee, and ma Wava gon' be mad!" he sobbed.

I petted his head; realizing yelling was not the answer. I shhh'd him softly, and kissed the top of his forehead, looking into those puppy dog eyes. "Ok Doctor, I need you to start from the beginning," I said, booping his nose. He sniffled a bit, and then wriggled his way into his arms so before I knew it I was holding the Time Tot against my chest.

'I was fisc-fixing the TAW-TARDIS and ma-ma-my hand slipped and hit d-the BUTTON! Now I is, no, AM a baby," he struggled to say. It seemed as if his mind was getting younger, but I didn't know how long I had until he completely reverted.

I gave him a kiss on the cheek and looked down at him. "Doctor, whatever happens, I'm going to stay with you. It's just us now, and we've got to stick together," I said, resisting the urge to pinch the bajeebies out of his little rosy cheeks. He looked up at me with a solemn look in his eyes.

"Wava and Doctor stay togeta, cuz we da very very lastest ones," he said, giving up on correct grammar. I gave him a little squeeze, trying not to completely spill it all and tell him about Gallifrey. "Yeah," I said holding him close, "the very very lastest ones."


	2. Chapter 2

**Omygosh, I'm so sorry for not updating! Feel free to send hate! I deserve it!**

**Disclaimer: y'all better be glad I don't own Doctor Who, or there'd never be any episodes!**

About five minutes later I was sitting in my room with a 3 year old Doctor curled up in my lap, fast asleep. It was funny; usually I was the one nodding off next to him. After we'd sorted out he'd slept like a coma patient, but then again he was a toddler, so I couldn't really blame him. He looked so peaceful with his head nestled into my stomach.

I took him to my bed a tucked him in, smoothing down that spiky mane of his. I turned to leave, but I heard him whimpering from behind me. He was shaking his head and covering his face with his hands. I walked back over to him and heard him muttering to himself. "Wose! The Big Bad Wolf took ma Wose! No, no, no! She's ma Wose, all pink an' lello and smiley… Bad Docta! Bad bad bad…" he said, kicking off all the covers. I sat down next to his squirming body and rubbed his back.

After a few minutes he calmed down, pulling his brown coat around him tighter. I realized I wouldn't be able to leave him, not only because he wouldn't be able to bear it, but because I couldn't either. I kicked off my shoes and crawled into bed with him, praying to every god I'd ever heard of that he wouldn't remember this. I put my arms around him and squeezed him into my chest, kissing his forehead. He yawned in his sleep and soon I joined him in a quiet slumber.

Three hours later we were up again, this time looking for a new suit of clothes. Not a literal suit, but yeah. You get it. The TARDIS led us to the wardrobe room, and oddly enough she had a whole corner full of kid's clothes. We sorted through them, well, I sorted through them, and picked out the outfits I thought would look cute on him. I'd secretly always wanted to dress him up, and now was my chance. The Doctor, on the other hand, had pulled on a pair of 3-D glasses and was running around like a madman. Which he was.

"Whatcha playing Doctor?" I asked as I smoothed out a TARDIS blue hoodie. The little boy ran past me shouting "Super Timelord to the rescue!" I then noticed he had his Fourth carnation's scarf tied around his neck like a cape and Five's fedora on backwards. I busted out laughing at the sight. Here he was, a 902 year old Timelord, the Destroyer of Worlds (although that one hadn't happened yet), the Oncoming Storm, playing super heroes as a three year old. It was just too much. He puffed out his chest and smiled, obviously proud of himself for making me giggle.

"C'mon then Super Timelord, you need to get dressed," I told him, holding up an outfit I thought he'd like. It was the hoodie, a pinstriped t-shirt (I didn't know they even made pinstriped t-shirts), and a pair of jean, and of course, converse. He tilted his head and walked around it, studying it. He looked so much like his older self I couldn't help but frown. I missed my grown up Doctor.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello Loves! Hope you're having a good day!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who. Yet.**

After a struggle I managed to get him in his clothes, but not until I threatened to keep him in the zero room for 5 whole minutes. After that he decided that maybe getting dressed was a good idea.

I picked up the wiggling bundle and gave him one of those nose-rub butterfly kisses. He giggled a little bit, wrapping his arms around my neck. I must admit I enjoyed the feeling. "Ok then Doctor, how're you feeling?" I asked. He looked away, noticeably embarrassed. "Little bitty," he mumbled just loud enough for me to hear. "Hey, it's ok, we'll fix it," I said reassuringly. He nodded just a bit, like he didn't quite believe me. I rolled my eyes. "Oh c'mon man, don't do that," I said. I've noticed that when I get frustrated or stubborn my original American-ness shows a bit. "We've faced Daleks and Cybermen and all kinds of bad guys, we can most definitely make you an adult again. Trust me, ok?" I asked, ruffling his sticky-uppy hair.

He nodded again, but this time with a bit more earnest. "Although, it might be good to get some help… Alright then Doctor, I've got a plan!" I said, marching towards the console room. I walked in and put the Doctor down on a chair and then began to fly the TARDIS. "Wavvvvvvaaaa, you aw doing it wo-ong," the Timetot whined from his seat. I glared at him for a second, and then conceded. "What exactly am I doing 'wo-ong' Doctor?" I asked, hands on hips. "It's not sneezing," he said, like it was the most obvious thing in the universe. I wondered if this is what River felt like. "That's because I took the brakes off love," I explained. The child shook his head. "Then put them back on," he demanded. Knowing that arguing would never get them anywhere, she put on the brakes.

A few moments later the TARDIS landed with a jolt. Whatever the Doctor had done to de-age himself it had used a lot of power. They needed to stop in for a bit to refuel. "Wava, where are we?" the toddler asked, shimmying off the chair. "We're in Cardiff," I said. "Does that mean we have to see Cap'in Jack?" he asked. I nodded. "But I don' wanna see Cap'in. He says hello funny," he complained. I knelt down next to him. "Doctor," I started, "I know that his, errrrrm, uhhhhh, flirtatious ways get a bit annoying, but he, his team, and I are going to work together to make you big again. You need to be thankful," I scolded him lightly. He looked down again. "Ok," he grumbled.

"Alrighty then, allons-y!" I yelled and pushed open the TARDIS. "Wava that is my word. It is for me," the Doctor said, as if I were the child. I rolled my eyes again. "Oh well. Stop complaining, I got enough of that from Cora and Carter," I said dismissively. I grabbed his small hand as we stepped out onto the street. "You don' gotta hold my hand," he tried to explain. "Even if you were your normal self I wouldn't trust you to not run off. Nope, your hand is my official prisoner. Mwahahaha!" I laughed evilly.

"Wow Rave, looks like either you and the Doctor are trying to repopulate, or someone forgot to use protection," a voice said from behind me. I spun around to see Jack Harkness standing there in all his glory. "Shut your mouth before I test how immortal you actually are," I threatened with a stiff face. Jack backed off slowly until I dropped the act and cracked a smile. "C'mon," I started, "I've got to tell you one h*** of a story."


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: for the million-bajillionth time, I do not own Doctor Who, or anything else you may recognize.**

"So, that is the _Doctor_?!" Jack asked for the 7th time. I crossed my arms and rolled my eyes. "Yes you idiot. I've explained this. And if I have to go over it again one more time, swear I will kill you so many times you might as well change your last name to Winchester," I said. The captain backed away slowly, knowing I don't make idle threats. He glanced over to the Doctor, who was coloring on the kids menu I'd got for him from the café we were sitting at. "I'm gonna need another drink," he mumbled, emptying his bottle.

"Ok, so, what do we do now?" he started as the waitress left to get him another beer. "I mean, we could try to find out what he did to de-age himself and try doing to opposite of that." I kicked him under the table. "Golly gee, I hadn't bloody thought of that!" I said sarcastically, throwing my hands up in the air. The waitress came back and gave me a strange look.

"Is everything alright, Miss?" she asked, glancing from me to Jack to the Doctor. I quickly ran my fingers through my hair, changing my expression from annoyed to pleasant. "Yep, I'm fine. My, uhhhhh, brother here doesn't know how to take care of his, errrrrm, son and I'm just a bit frustrated," I said, pointing from Jack to the Doctor. I made a point to ignore the disbelieving look in her eyes. I looked nothing like Jack. The waitress nodded slowly then walked away.

"God, you humans and your need to pry into everything… Anyway, yeah, I've sorta kinda already thought of that," I said, quite agitated. So far Captain Jack had been no help. "Okay then Miss Thing, calm down. First off, we need a better cover story because we _cannot_ go around telling people that a 901 year old alien is my son and an 856 year old attractive alien is my sister," he said. I glared at him and his flirting. "Wava, I dwew a pic-ture of you," a little voice said. I turned and saw my little Doctor staring up at me with those big, chocolate colored eyes. He was holding up the kids menu, which now had a little sketch on the back.

I expected a child's drawing, maybe a Mrs. Potato Woman-ish person, but that's not what I saw. What I saw was a portrait of a lady with auburn hair and sea green eyes, her pale pink lips curved in a half smile. I gasped at the art, shocked at the realism it possessed. "Doctor, this is wonderful! How did you learn to draw like that?" I asked, astonished. I knew he could draw, but this? This was more than that. This was amazing, I'm guessing even for Gallifreyan standards. "'Cademy. I was gonna be a awtist but den I had ta fight," he explained with a shrug. I opened and closed my mouth, unable to form words. He was wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. My wonderful, fantastic, Doctor, no matter the form.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hallo friends! Guess what? This is the last chapter with Baby Doctor! :'( Sad, I know. But after this there will be more mini stories and loooots of fluff. Like, seriously, you could make 17 pillows with all the fluff.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or Torchwood or anything else**

"Doctor, what did I say about wandering off?" I asked the Timetot sternly. "Don't do it…" he muttered, looking at the ground. We were walking back to Torchwood and somehow the Doctor had wriggled his hand free and ran in front of me and Jack. Speaking of which, the ex-time agent had been snickering behind his hand since we left the café. "What's so funny?" I asked, an eyebrow raised. The Doctor mimicked my expression perfectly and repeated, "Yeah Cap'in, what's so funny?" this only caused him to giggle louder. "This is awesome!" he said, and I rolled my eyes. He was about to continue when I stopped him. "Jack, I don't need an in-depth explanation on how you find this 'awesome' so just please, shut up. I'm already watching one child," I said. I was really, really done with this situation.

Finally being able to enjoy some (relatively) quiet time, I let my thoughts travel back to our current predicament. How on Gallifrey were we going to change the Doctor back? I couldn't very well just go about on adventures with a toddler on my hip! I thought and thought and thought until I had an idea. Not a very good idea, I mean it only had a 43.00871254% chance of working, but an idea none the less. Plus, I had to at least _try_ to fix him before we got to Torchwood, they'd run all kinds of crazy tests on the poor child. "Doctor, I'm going to try something, okay? It might hurt a little bit, but it could help me change you back to normal," I explained, doing my best not to scare him. He nodded and I slowly, cautiously reached for his mind.

I found his consciousness quicker than I'd expected, like when you're singing a song from 2007 and you're not sure if you still have the lyrics memorized but you remember them the moment it starts. His mind was the same. Same jumbled knot of contemplations, same cluttered, disorganized feeling like everything had been jammed in there haphazardly. I sighed with relief. Same Doctor. _'Hello? This is Raven, is the Doctor home?_' I asked. The reply came quickly. _**'Raven! I'm here. Weeeeell, of course I'm here, it's my head, but it's the actual me,'**_ he said. I almost screamed and jumped up and down. He was there! _'Oh thank Rassilon! If it hadn't been you I might've cried. Not there's anything wrong with the other you, I mean, he's quite sweet but I really needed to speak to you…' _I rambled. I smiled at the little Doctor, whose brows were furrowed in a mixture of confusion and concentration. '_Now then, my real plan: we're going to fix you from the inside out,'_ I explained. _**'What?'**_ he asked. I shook my head, not wanting to go into further details.

Back in the reality I picked up the Doctor and carried him into an alley, Captain Jack following like a dog on a leash. I sat the Timetot down and put my thumb on Jack's wrist. _'Help me you cocky little bastard or I will kick your balls up your a**hole,' _I threatened. He nodded quickly. _'Okay Doctor, here's how we're going to do this,' _I started, still touching Jack's wrist so he could hear. _'I'm going to lend you some energy, but just your mind. If I get to the point were giving you any more energy would kill me or cause me to regenerate Jack here'll give you his until he dies or our problem is solved. Anyways, you are going to use this energy to fight until you are in control of yourself. Then, hopefully, my plan works and you, ummmm, grow up.'_ The Doctor seemed skeptical, but at this point half thought at plans were our best bet.

I looked from Jack to the Doctor and then started giving him energy. I started slowly, seeing how it would affect me, but then I just poured it all into him. I got to the point where I was panting for breath, and then Jack stepped in. I think he died 3 times, one of those on accident because I put too much pressure on his mind, before I could feel the Doctor fighting. I was a good fight. In the real world he was sitting with his face in his hands, his expression that of pure determination. My Doctor was winning. Then the glow started. It was soft at first, barely visible, but after 13 and 5/17 minutes exactly (I'm a Timelady, I'm quite precise on that sort of thing) the whole was passageway was shrouded in blue light. You couldn't see 3 inches in front of you for how bright it was.

I heard a scream. Not a girly banshee scream, a scream like the one you'd expect Leonidas to yell while fighting in _300_. The light faded and I was on a street with a currently resurrecting Captain Jack and a fully grown Timelord. "Doctor!" I yelled as I ran closer to him. He was standing now and as I got closer he picked me up by the waist and spun me around. "Oh Raven, my brilliant, wonderful Raven, I'm back!" he yelled as we twirled. Just when I expected him to sit me down, he didn't. Instead he brought his lips closer and closer to me until they met, and I kissed him like I'd never kissed him before. "I've missed you," I said when we stopped. He gave me one of those smiles, those crinkly, shining, smiles. He knelt down to where his mouth was right next to my ear and said "I've missed you too."

** Oh wow! That turned out much longer than expected! Anyways, yeah, that's the last of my Baby Doctor mini story. It's crappily written, I know. Also, in case you couldn't tell, this story involves the Tenth Doctor and Raven while she's on her second regeneration. Okie dokie then, bye!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hi y'all! Without further ado, this is the next part of my collection of one-shots/miniseries. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who, or Harry Potter, or Spiderman.**

"Raven, Raven wake up!" the Doctor yelled into our room of my, his, and Martha's little 2 bedroom flat. I ran my fingers through my hair and rubbed my eyes. "Wha-what's going on?" I asked sleepily. "She's back! The TARDIS is back! Sally Sparrow did it! Oh, this is brilliant!" he said, excited as a kid on their first day of school. I rolled my eyes. "Okay then, that's good. Yay. Now then, I'm in bed and therefore in my pajamas so if you could please leave so I can, uhhhhh, get dressed…" I yawned. They Doctor nodded and flashed his signature grin before exiting my room and shutting the door.

I climbed out of bed and went over to my closet. The TARDIS was back! I might've sounded a tad unenthusiastic earlier, but I was actually thrilled that Sally had brought Sexy back*. I was sick of 1969! I mean, yeah, there was the moon landing, but when you (usually) have a space ship that travels through time that's somewhere you've been before. For our first PR (post-Rose) adventure the Doctor and I had actually gone to the moon to meet Neil Armstrong. So yeah, needless to say I'd been bored for the last few months. Ugh, domestics. I actually had a job. A real, money paying job as a librarian, which honestly isn't the worst but STILL. I dug through the closet until I found my usual outfit. TARDIS blue dress, chevron leggings, white high tops, black blazer, and a TARDIS key and locket charm on a chain. I ran a brush through my tangled auburn curls and put on my make up before leaving the room and going out into the hallway.

And walking right into the Doctor. He was styling his hair in the hall mirror because Martha was using the one bathroom and I was using the mirror in our room. "Oh! My god Doctor, how can someone so skinny take up a whole hall?" I asked as I bent over to pick up the bottle of hair gel I'd caused him to drop. He bent over a second later and our heads banged together. _**'Oh no, not again,'**_ I heard as our consciousnesses unwillingly collided. _'Ahhhh, ummmm, walls! Walls up!' _I thought back to him. Timelords are touch telepaths so when we touched we usually got at least a little brush from the others mind. That though, that was full blown I-can-feel-all-of-your-emotions-and-hear-your-most-private-thoughts telepathy. Plus, that was the 5th time that week we had accidently banged heads, and each time it was very disorienting. Not to mention embarrassing. _**'The square root of pi is 1.77245385091…'**_the Doctor started reciting. '_Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive were proud to say they were perfectly normal, thank you very much…'_ I said until I finally felt our minds separate.

"You okay Doctor?" I asked as we both stumbled to our feet. "Yup. How 'bout you?" he said. I nodded and waved him off. "You know me, I'm always okay. I'm never not okay. Anyways, you said the TARDIS is back?" I said, changing the subject. He nodded. I gave him my little half-smirk and ran out to the alley. The TARDIS was there, as usual, but this time she seemed alive. The last 3 months had been hard on us. Our beautiful, sentient ship had been quiet, whether out of spite or sorrow or something else we didn't know, but now, now she was back and Sexy as ever. I pushed open the doors and ran into the console room, spinning like a tornado. "My god girl, how I have missed you!" I shouted. "You, me, the Doctor and Martha, all of time and space! Although, Martha's not going to be with us much longer, I don't think. Blink and then Utopia, yeah? Oh goodness, that whole mess is about to happen. Don't even want to think about it. Blimey, I'll probably have to pretend to be human. I think I've forgot how to be human. Never thought I'd have to deal with that again, since I got through the whole Family of Blood thing without any major predicame-" I was cut off by the Doctor barreling into the TARDIS, dragging Martha in tow.

"Oh yes, oh yes! She is back! Brilliant! Molto bene!" he shouted, grinning like a mad man. Which he was. Just then the TARDIS started to rock back and forth like she was taking off, but she wasn't. It was dead quiet, and the rotor wasn't pumping but we were moving anyway. This was just fantastic. Fan-frikkin-tastic. Could we not stay canon, could we not stick to the story line, for a whole adventure? Nope, apparently not. I mean, as long as I knew what was going to happen I was good. See a werewolf in Victorian Scotland? Find a fancy diamond! Carronite in the Globe Theatre? Disarm it Hogwarts style! Daleks in New York? Get help from a show girl, a pig, and Spiderman! But the moment we encounter something off script I'm lost, completely useless, so that moment scared the s*** out of me.

We landed from our ghostly flight with a soft thud. The Doctor slowly walked towards the door and cautiously opened it. The room we had landed in was dark except for a window on the left wall. It was open and a small breeze rustled the curtains. Pale moonbeams illuminated a wrought iron desk in the corner. I gasped in recognition. This room was mine. "Doctor, Martha, we need to leave. Now," I said, grabbing the Doctor's wrist and pulling him back towards to console. "What's wrong Raven?" Martha asked, worried. "Nothing, nothing's wrong. I just think we should probably leave. I mean, it's obviously a-a trap," I stuttered, still edging away from the doors. The Doctor looked at me, his face full of concern. "Raven, what's going on? You recognize this place, I can tell. Where are we?" he asked, worry written on his face clear as day. "I don't know where we are, okay? Now shut up before you wake mu- whoever's secret hideout this is!" I stage whispered. He nodded, seemingly acceptant that I was not changing my mind. He shut the doors and walked over to the controls next to me when the yelling started.

**Yes, I actually went there Mwahahaha**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello my lovelies! I'd first like to apologize for being a s***** author and never updating. I'm sorry, really I am! My life is just a super huge mess right now. Anyways, here it is!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who**

**Also: Cora is based off of my little sister Sophie, whose middle names are the same as her Fanfiction counterpart. That means that writing Cora is emotionally taxing, because I would NEVER want Sophie to find herself in the following situation. That is why I haven't been writing this as diligently as I should have. I've been avoiding baby sister feels.**

"I don't know who you are or what the h*** you think you're doing, but I can hear you inside there! Must be very close quarters, hiding in Jay's TARDIS. I mean, you must be idiots to stay in there. She's got a walk in closet and her own bathroom and you choose to camp out in her TARDIS. Morons," the voice yelled. I couldn't help but notice the sadness and anger at the mention of 'Jay'. "Oh s*** Doctor, now you've gone and done it!" I yelled at him as he stared at the doors. "Gone and done what? What've I done?!" he asked. I rolled my eyes. "She's right. Moron," I mumbled. "Hey I heard that!" he shouted. "Yeah, I meant you to," I said. "Would you two stop arguing for 15 seconds?! I swear, you're worse than my mum and dad!" Martha yelled, shutting us both up. "I agree with that last lady! You guys are horrible robbers! I almost want to give you money you're so pathetic!" the girl from outside yelled again. "Cora, do the universe a favor and shut the gaping hole in your head! I mean, there's a reason Carter didn't talk till he was 3. You wouldn't let him get a word in!" I shouted at my little sister.

"Cora?! As in, the Cora?! Your little sister Cora?!" the Doctor hissed. I nodded. There was too much loud noise going on. Meanwhile Cora was trying to open the TARDIS door, clearly infuriated. "Well, I can hear the resemblance," the Doctor said. I rolled my eyes. "Dumbo did sass so much better, you know?" I asked sweetly, walking to the doors. "How d'you know about Dumbo? We didn't meet until after I regenerated," he asked. "Shush love, I'm trying to get something done," I said to him. "Cora! Cora stop pulling you won't open the doors. Just calm down and back up you little twit," I said through the doors. The pounding stopped and I heard the soft padded footsteps of someone in slippers.

I pushed the door open and couldn't help but gasp. There she was, my little sister, in all her ginger headed glory. Of course, I was ginger too then, but you get my point. I hadn't seen my sister in 780 years and 3 months, and looking at her now was overwhelming. "Raven? Are you just going to stand there and stare at the girl or are you actually going to get out of the way so we can convince her not to kill us?" Martha asked. I took a deep breath and got out of the way. When we were all standing in front of my sibling I quickly snapped my fingers so that nosy over there wouldn't go snooping and find out our bigger on the inside secret. "Who-who are you people? You look just like David Tennant and Freema Agyeman. And you look like you could be a supermodel. Why the h*** are you robbing us?" Cora asked. "Actually, funny story, we weren't really robbing you. We're uhhhhh, FBI agents! Yup. Yup yup yup. That's us, FBI agents. See, got a badge and everything!' I said, pulling the psychic paper out of the Doctor's pocket. I waved it in Cora's face before putting it in the sole of my converse.

"FBI, huh? Guess you're here about Jay, aren't you? I'll tell you the same thing I told the cops. She vanished. No broken windows, no busted locks, no ransom. They think she either ran away or, or nothing. They think she ran away," the young girl said. I swallowed. Of course, of course they assumed the worst. I was a troubled kid who had threatened to run away multiple times and suddenly-poof-I disappear. I mean, they were only being logical in assuming that I might've, err, done myself in. But the fact that this is what my family thought had happened was just wrong wrong wrong! I hadn't died, I'd started living! I knelt down on my knees in front of Cora and held her face in my hands. "Cora Adrian Elizabeth James, I am 100% positive your sister didn't die. She did not commit suicide. She ran away, and I know where to," I explained to the 9 year old in front of me. "Why would she do that? Didn't she love us?" she asked. Leave it to Cora to ask the big questions. "Yes, she loved you. Of course she loved you! But, and I think you know this, she wasn't happy here. If she stayed things were only going to be worse. Plus, she forgot to leave a note," I explained, trying (and failing) to hold back my tears.

"What, you said you know where she went! You could go get her back! She could come back home!" my little sister said. Again I choked on tears. I shook my head. "No, Cora, she couldn't. Do you honestly want to know where your sister went?" I asked. She nodded so hard I half expected her brain to fall out. "Ok, ok, but you must believe me. No denying it. Cross your heart and hope to die?" I asked her. She nodded again, a little more solemnly. At the same time we crossed our hearts, falling back into the routine that we'd had so long ago. I crossed my left heart only, the one that had been with me when I was human. The one that loved the child in front of me.


End file.
